***The Official Guitar Thread***

[Vonhelmet]

Bundle of pickups arrived. 6 generic ones and 1 Seymour Duncan, so not quite as good as I was hoping for! Still, the Seymour Duncan one alone should sell for quite a bit more than I paid for the bundle and the rest will sell one way or another, so I’ll still come out ahead. Just need to grab a multi meter and make sure they’re all intact.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Yeah sounds like you'll definitely be ahead with just one SD! I'm about to re-wire my bass...bricking it.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Boo, looks like they’re junk. I took the backs off some and they’re nothing special. The SD looking one is the same inside as one of the rubbish looking ones, so I think someone has just put a fancy back on it! Some of the others I’ve identified as cheap generic Chinese ones. I can’t get into the silver one as it’s so well potted with wax and I doubt it’s worth melting it open to get a good look in there!

Still, I reckon if I flip them on eBay in pairs I’ll get my money back, so no loss.

It was worth a shot, though!

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Definitely worth a shot, but that's a *******! Oh well...

 

[dirtychinchilla]

So the potentiometers that I bought to replace the ones in my bass turned out to have a really long post (can't think of the right name) on them, so I'm not installing those. I'll order the correct dimension ones once I've been paid.

I did get in to the bass and checked over the wiring, though. Had to solder a couple of bits so I definitely feel less worried about rewiring the whole thing now. What really annoys me is that for some of the time you have to solder with the stuff hanging over the bass as it has to be wired into the ground. I wish they'd make them a little less awful to work with.

 

[jumpy]

Following the talk of replacing pickups, I dug out my first guitar: a mid 90's squier jazz bass.

It needed some tlc as it has been somewhat neglected/lent out to mates who were not as fastidious as I am. After looking it over it needed a shim for the neck, new strings and a damn good clean.
So I took everything to bits and got to work with a little soap and water and a nail brush. Urgh, the gunk that came off the fretboard... 1000grit wet & dry paper to remove the fret corrosion (there's still a bit of fret-munch, but a re-crown will have to wait) It now has boiled linseed oil applied to the rosewood mmmm.

So, after the neck shim, truss-rod and string / pickup heigh adjustment everything looks good.
I relented to the dark-side and ordered the shims and a string measure from stew-mac

After a week or so with renewed bass guitar interest, I was looking at the cost of a new fender jazz bass (you know how shiny new guitars are for your inner magpie), when I decided to improve my old squier with some new pickups, control gear and bridge instead, over the cost of a new instrument that I really don't need if I'm honest.

Work, goods aquired, so far.

1. shielding and earthing of all cavities with copper tape
2. new pickups
3. new drop in control gear
4. new bridge
5. new strings
6. new case and strap

This is not going to make my old guitar worth more or anything daft like that; it's a Squier. But it has been a fun project and my old bass sounds great compared to its original tired form.



[EDIT]

Added as links - I didn't want to bogart the page with loads of huge images.

out with the old
https://imgur.com/dB940Rk

in with the new
https://imgur.com/WXL2dHc
seymour duncan pickups; had these before. I like 'em.

https://imgur.com/gy0oieK
found these guys whilst searching for pots. I like the quality of the work. Much better than my soldering. Cost for the drop-in slightly more than getting all of the parts and consumables and doing it myself. I'd need heat shrink, a new mounting plate, new fender knobs, etc. By the time you take into account the various different suppliers and their delivery charges it was a no-brainer to get the drop-in.

https://imgur.com/49owNnB
hipshot kickass 4 bridge; nicely adjustable. Seems to transfer vibration into the body much better. Has made the string height setup after the neck shim much more precise. That and aligning the strings with the pickups, it's just the job.

https://imgur.com/Rzsebqs
cavities shielded with copper tape and linked with grounding wire. The black wire in the image is the bridge ground, not the link.

https://imgur.com/rLTIWgb
bridge and pickups installed - to get the bridge pickup to fit, I had to file the hole about an 8th of an inch on the short ends and a little around the rounds for the mounting screws.
Squier jazz bass guitars use the same size rout for both pickup holes - ie the neck pickup slot.

https://imgur.com/fvxXYta
final result, all cleaned up and adjusted with new strap and on top of a new soft case. Oh, and rotosound sm77 40-60-80-100 flatwound strings.

All in all I'm quite pleased with the results. Sounds and plays better than it ever has.


Bonus: My fretless westone thunder 2 had some work on the fretboard, it needed some sanding (up to 2.5k grit) and oiling to bring it back to life.

https://imgur.com/7GfkyZ3

https://imgur.com/9D7HfDo

https://imgur.com/prDEXBl

frettboard now has reflections. Kind of hard to see with my potato camera, but it's super smooth.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Copied this from my Talkbass thread...but I think I'm in love with a 5 string bass.

That low B, and any note played on that string were just beautiful.

I'm participating in a tribute album to the late Chris Cornell of Audioslave, Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog etc. I optimistically put myself down for a number of songs, but time has proven to be against me and instead I've just ended up doing one song - Shadow on the Sun by Audioslave. As with most Audioslave songs, the bass line is just lovely, but it involves a low B.

I only have a 4 string, and I didn't have time to buy strings for it that would suit BEAD tuning, so I borrow a Musicman 5 string from my old bass teacher. Hadn't seen the guy for years, so it was firstly very generous of him to lend me the bass, and secondly awesome to see the guy.

Once I got it working (there's some problem with the electronics that meant that the 9V battery was just doing nothing...temporarily solved by undoing the screws and letting the compartment hang a bit loose - anyone know how to fix this?) it sounded incredible. I love the weight of the string and the depth of the low notes.

Now I'm thinking, god I need a 5 string so badly. There's no way I can afford one at the moment as I'm getting married in June, but hopefully post-wedding I'll be able to at least get a low end Sterling (or something similar, if someone can recommend a better bass for a similar price, <£500).

The bass on the track sounds perfect. It's a bit rawer than what Tim Commerford recorded, but it just adds a bit of character in my opinion. Not to say I played it wrong - I think you can probably hear my slight discomfort at suddenly having a 5th string.

I'm hoping to return the bass in slightly better nick than he lent it to me in. When I first started learning, he leant me a small bodied Tanglewood which was really quite grimy, though good fun to play. I cleaned up the whole thing; it had some stickers on, so I covered them in removable laminate and gave it back to him in a whole lot better shape than I received it in, and I'm wondering whether I should do this with the Musicman. What do you guys think? Is it out of order? This Musicman is grubby too!

 

[tedmaul]

Hey folks,

I've written and recorded an EP over the course of the last year if anyone wants to check it out. It's got lots of guitar on it.

All the details are on my Facebook page, but you can listen to the whole thing on Bandcamp/Soundcloud:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelNorrisMusic/
Bandcamp: https://michaelnorrismusic.bandcamp.com/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/michaelnorrismusic

Or here's track two on youtube:

It was pretty much all recorded with these three guitars:

90% of the melody parts were done with the Suhr Custom Standard in the middle. I think the other two guitars got one solo each. Rhythm guitars are mostly a combo of the PRS and the Standard again, with some acoustic thrown in here and there.

Just thought maybe someone might like it.

cheers

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Bandcamp: https://michaelnorrismusic.bandcamp.com/

Nice, a bit of very early Steve Vai in the first 3 tracks.

 

[tedmaul]

Nice, a bit of very early Steve Vai in the first 3 tracks.

Thanks! Cheers for checking it out.

 

[BigDannyO]

Now I'm thinking, god I need a 5 string so badly. There's no way I can afford one at the moment as I'm getting married in June, but hopefully post-wedding I'll be able to at least get a low end Sterling (or something similar, if someone can recommend a better bass for a similar price, <£500).

I added a five string to my collection last summer, having never owned one before, and settled on a Yamaha TRBX305 in white as seen here.

It's a really REALLY lovely bass for the money. Build quality is absolutely top notch, feeling much more premium than its cost would imply, and it played beautifully from right out of the box. The range of sounds is really versatile as you'd expect active with the two active humbuckers, the drawback being the only control you have over the mids is with the five way selector which moves between some preset mid EQs. Having said that, the presets are well chosen and do make a good difference depending on your preference.

I really can't recommend it enough (especially as I used their 0% finance and only paid £35/m over 9 months for it!).

 

[dirtychinchilla]

I added a five string to my collection last summer, having never owned one before, and settled on a Yamaha TRBX305 in white as seen here.

It's a really REALLY lovely bass for the money. Build quality is absolutely top notch, feeling much more premium than its cost would imply, and it played beautifully from right out of the box. The range of sounds is really versatile as you'd expect active with the two active humbuckers, the drawback being the only control you have over the mids is with the five way selector which moves between some preset mid EQs. Having said that, the presets are well chosen and do make a good difference depending on your preference.

I really can't recommend it enough (especially as I used their 0% finance and only paid £35/m over 9 months for it!).

Oh man! You've got me looking at this now! Same price. The only thing that puts me off about Musicmans/Sterling is that the fretboard isn't wide enough. I've got a tendancy to pull the G string off the fretboard.

Cheers for the brief review of the Yamaha...they sounds great but I find it hard to get past the appearance. For me, it's probably going to be between a Squier jazz bass and a Sterling.

That finance offer really is wonderful. Damn you!

 

[BigDannyO]

Oh man! You've got me looking at this now! Same price. The only thing that puts me off about Musicmans/Sterling is that the fretboard isn't wide enough. I've got a tendancy to pull the G string off the fretboard.

Cheers for the brief review of the Yamaha...they sounds great but I find it hard to get past the appearance. For me, it's probably going to be between a Squire jazz bass and a Sterling.

That finance offer really is wonderful. Damn you!

Ha, get it bought!

I almost ended up with the Squire VM Jazz to complement my 4 string Fender P, but was put off by a couple of reviews mentioning a weak B string.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Ha, get it bought!

I almost ended up with the Squire VM Jazz to complement my 4 string Fender P, but was put off by a couple of reviews mentioning a weak B string.

Why was it weak? Due to the strings they come out of the factory with or something else? I'm looking at the Squiers and I can't see why they're modified. Do you happen to know?

 

[BigDannyO]

Why was it weak? Due to the strings they come out of the factory with or something else? I'm looking at the Squiers and I can't see why they're modified. Do you happen to know?

Sorry, I mean weak as in the sound reproduced from the B compared to the other strings. I guess due to a combination of the scale length (although my Yamaha is the same and doesn't suffer the same problem) and the single coils. Admittedly I haven't tried one in person, but I did see it mentioned in a few reviews when I was researching.

You might have seen it already, but here's a good vid comparing fives in this budget:

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Sorry, I mean weak as in the sound reproduced from the B compared to the other strings. I guess due to a combination of the scale length (although my Yamaha is the same and doesn't suffer the same problem) and the single coils. Admittedly I haven't tried one in person, but I did see it mentioned in a few reviews when I was researching.

You might have seen it already, but here's a good vid comparing fives in this budget:

I have watched that video, and I was a bit sad that they preferred the Yamaha!! That's interesting though, I'd buy the bass for the B string so if that doesn't sound right then I'm guessing the J bass would just be unsuitable. I also like the idea of having humbuckers over single coils. I have my P bass for anything lighter.

 

[BigDannyO]

I have watched that video, and I was a bit sad that they preferred the Yamaha!! That's interesting though, I'd buy the bass for the B string so if that doesn't sound right then I'm guessing the J bass would just be unsuitable. I also like the idea of having humbuckers over single coils. I have my P bass for anything lighter.

I'm happy they vindicated my decision!

I had the same conclusion as you. If I was just buying "a bass" I would have been perfectly happy to have the J to pair up with my P. But the fact that I was buying specifically for the low string made my mind up.

Have you looked at the newer Yamaha BB235? A bit more of a traditional design if that's more your thing, see here. It still has two passive single coils though.

 

[jumpy]

Why was it weak? Due to the strings they come out of the factory with or something else? I'm looking at the Squiers and I can't see why they're modified. Do you happen to know?

I think the 'vintage modified' refers to the original Fender jazz bass which was a specific 70's model. With the VM Squire being a copy of that. Think pickup spacing, fret inlays, scratchplate that kind of thing, being slightly different.

The Squier Jazz VM comes well recommended for a budget instrument.

I know mine is a lot older than the guitars about now (and I've tinkered with it somewhat) but it was always a decent platform to start with.

You could get a squier Jazz 5 string for under 400 tokens. Which aint half bad. My advice is to go and see a few in the flesh and play them. The Jazz bass has a slimmer neck profile than the p-bass in the 4 string variant and a more varied tone due to the pickup configuration (imo).

 

[Andrew_McP]

Thought I'd add to this rather than create a new thread... What's the stupidest thing you've done to one of your guitars?

I would like to offer up: gluing the saddle on my nylon string electro-acoustic (only a Merida, nothing fancy). I changed its strings a few weeks ago and was a bit cheesed off when the saddle and nut both dropped off. Decided it was just shoddy factory workmanship and reached for the gorilla glue.

I don't use the guitar plugged in very often, but a little reverb on a Zoom box and Blackstar Fly 3 makes me sound vaguely competent when I'm in the mood. So it took me a while to notice that the weird problem I was having with the onboard tuner (not working on several strings) was a sign that bits that used to vibrate were no longer vibrating quite so well. Doh!

It's taken me several destringing/restringing sessions to get the saddle off, remove any obvious glue from the piezowossit underneath, and get it working properly again. In the end it was a calculated thump* on the bridge when fully strung which got the final string working properly, so I'm not confident I've really 'fixed' it, but... But for now it works again. In future I will try to think a little harder before reaching for the glue.



*Ok, a frustrated thwack!

 

[robfosters]

Thought I'd add to this rather than create a new thread... What's the stupidest thing you've done to one of your guitars?

Sold it.